Ruffler for sewing-machines.



W. R. PARSONS.

RUFFLER FOB. SEWING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED MAY 23, 1908.

Patented Aug. 17, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

'W. R. PARSONS.

RUFFLER FOR SEWING MAGHINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 23. 1908.

Ptented Aug. 17, 1909.

, 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

JflQiO, E913 v.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WINSLOW R. PARSONS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR 'IO CHICAGO TITLE & TRUST COMPANY, TRUSTEE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

RUFFLER FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WINSLOW R. PARSONS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rufllers for Sewing- Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates to that class of rutlling attachments for sewing machines in which a rufiiing strip, or strip of goods to be ruffled or gathered, is supported on a separator plate and is acted upon, for the rufliing or gathering operation, by a reciproeating rufliing blade; and the invention has for its object to provide means for preventing the retraction of the rufiling strip with the rufiling blade, and thereby avoid uneven or imperfect work such sometimes results in the operation of the rutliers at present in use; the present improved ru'i'lier enabling the work to be done with evenness and regularity.

To this end the invention comprises a holding plate which is preferably interposed between the rutliing blade and the separator plate and which cooperates with these parts and with the presser foot of the attachment in such a manner that not only are the ruffles or gathers always of uniform size or fullness, but the rufller is caused to operate in such a manner as to maintain the folds of the rullle in an upright position, and substantially at a right angle to the plane of the strip from which they are formed, during their passage through the ruliler, thereby enhancing the attractiveness of the work in forming medium or full ruffles.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation, on an enlarged scale, of a rufiler embodying the present invention with the ruftling blade in its retracted position. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a portion of the attachment shown in Fig. 1, but with the ruttling blade in the position it occupies at the end of the forward stroke to complete a rufiie or gather which will then be in position for the passage of the needle there through, and Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the rufiling blade in a position intermediate the positions which it occupies in Figs. 1 and 2 and with the ruilie or gather partly formed. Fig. ft is a detail side view of a preferred form of presser-foot piece for use in connection with a holding blade, and Fig. 5 is a similar view of a slightly different Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 23, 1908.

Patented Aug. 17, 1909.

Serial No. 434,4:92.

form of presser-foot than that shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail side view showing the forward end portions of the ruflling blade, the holding blade and the separator plate. Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail plan view of the forward end of the rufiling blade; Fig. 8 is a similar view at the forward end of the holding blade, and Fig. 9 is a similar view of the forward ends of the holding blade and of the ruflling blade, showing the preferred relative arrangement I of intermeshing teeth of these two blades. Figs. 10 and 11 are detail views showing portions of the attachment but illustrating a slightly modified form of holding plate, and Fig. 12 is an enlarged plan view showing the forward end portions of the separator plate and of the holding and ruiiling blades shown in Figs. 10 and 11. Figs. 13 and Ll are detail views, similar to Figs. 10 and 11, showing another modified form of the invention, and Fig. 15 is a plan view of the forward ends of the separator plate and of the holding and rufliing blades shown in Figs. 13 and let.

Referring to the drawings, 16 denotes the frame of the miller and which frame is provided, in the usual manner, with means for convenient attachment to the presser-bar 17 of a sewing machine. Pivotally mounted on a pin 25, supported by the standard 26 forming a portion of the frame of the atachment, is an operating lever 27 forked.

for engagement with a roller-stud or pin carried by the needle-bar 28 of the machine, and to which needle-bar the shank 29 of the needle 42 is attached in a well-known manner. The operating lever 27 has a loose but adjustable connection of well-known con struction with a pendulous lever 24 having a pivotal connection at 23 with an upward projection 22 on a carrier 21 to which the rufiiing blade 20 is attached in a usual manner, so that as the said operating lever is vibrated from the needle-bar of the machine the said rattling blade will be reciprocated back and forth for the rutlling operations. The ruiliing blade carrier 21 has an overhanging part 30 provided with an upward projection extending into a slot in a portion 31 of the ruttler frame, so that the rutliing blade will be guided and steadied in its back of course, remains stationary as the rufliing described in my application No. 304,635, filed March 7, 1906.

Attached to the frame 16 is a holder or support 19 having an arm Set to the under side of which the separator plate 18 is attached in the usual manner, and which plate, of course, remains stationary as the milling blade is reciprocated back and forth above the same.

To the upper side of the arm 3% of the separator plate support 19 is attached a holding blade 35 the forward end of which is provided with pointed teeth having somewhat long shanks 37, and which teeth at the forward end of said holding blade are preferably curved upward, as more clearly shown in Fig. 6, for engagement with'the rultling strip 52 which passes over the said holding blade and the retraction of which, with the rutliing blade, is prevented by said teeth. The holding blade, in the preferred form of the invention, is interposed between the separator plate and the rutlling blade, so that the rattling strip 52 will run between said holding and milling blades.

The holding blade is preferably provided at its forward end with a slot 38, and the rutl'ling blade 20 is preferably provided with a relatively narrow slot 39, these slots affording proper space for the needle 4L2. The ruthing blade is provided at its forward end with pointed teeth 40 and d1 which are preferably so arranged relative to the teeth 36 of the holding blade as to alternate and iuterniesh with the latter teeth, as indicated in Figs. (3 and 9.

he improved rutlier herein shown is preferably provided with a selfadjustable presser-foot piece 33 formed separate from or independent of the frame of the attachment and secured to said frame by means of a rivet t t beneath the head of which is a spring plate or washer which admits of certain limited self-adjusting movements of the said presser-foot piece; the latter being provided, adjacent to the forward end of the separator plate, with a shoulder The recessed portion of the said presser-foot piece between said shoulder 45 and the end of the holding blade permits the rutliing blade, in cooperation with said holding blade, to form the rutl'les in such a manner that they will stand up edgewise vertically as shown in the drawings, and thus enhance the attractiveness of the work.

Instead offorming the presser-foot piece 33 with a single shoulder 45 the said presserfoot piece may have, adjacent to the forward upturned end of the holding blade, a second shoulder at? (as shown in Fig. t) which will cooperate with said blade in preyenting the retraction of the rutlling strip with the rufiiing blade; or instead of forn1 ing said presser-foot piece with the said shoulder l? it may be provided with an inclined portion 48 which will likewise cooperate with the holding plate in prewanting the retraction of the rultling strip.

The improved 'rufiler preferably C0111 prises a piping guide 46, such as is fully described in my application No. 230L635, above referred to, and which is preferably secured to the frame of the ruflier by means of the rivet at which holds the presser-foot piece in place.

As above indicated the separator plate terminates at its forward end adjacent to the shoulder 45 on the presser-foot and the holding blade terminates at its forward end at a considerable distance rearward of said shoulder, so as to assist in holding the ruffies edgewise vertically as well as to prev nt the retraction of the rulile strip with the rufiling blade. The term forward as herein used has reference to the direction in which work is to move, while the term rearward has reference to the opposite direction, or toward the position of the at tendant.

instead of a holding blade provided at its forward end with teeth, as hereinbefore de scribed, a holding blade d9 which is formed smooth or straight at its forward end, and which is provided with a slot 50, as more clearly shown in Fig. 12, may be employed. This form of holding blade, like the holding blade 35, is slightly rip-turned and terminates at its forward end at some little dis tance rearward of the forward end of the separator plate 18, and the smooth or straight forward end of the holding blade 29 affords a slight shoulder beyond which the rufiie being formed will be forced by the rattling blade, as more clearly shown in Fig. ll, so that said shoulder will prevent the re traction of the ruftling strip with the ruftling blade. lVith this form of holding blade its forward end is preferably extended to a position slightly beyond the needle, as more clearly indicated in Figs. 10 to 11, and its forward end need be but very slightly upturned.

A holding blade with a straight or smooth forward end is well adapted for use with thin fabrics, either single or doubled, but for use with heavier or thicker fabrics a toothed holding blade is preferred, as such toothed holding lade is better adapted to prevent retraction of the heavier or stiffer fabrics with the ruli'ling blade.

Instead of employing a holding blade which is attached to the separator plate support, and which is interposed between the separator plate and ruttling blade, as hereinbefore described, a holding blade 53 at tached by rivets 54l' to the piping guide 46, and arranged above the ruli'ling blade, may be employed. This form of the invention is illustrated in Figs. 13, 14 and 15 which show the holding blade 53 in such position relative to the presser-foot piece 35 that the latter will press upon the same, and by coacting thermvith enable the said holding blade to have a proper engagement with a rufliing strip to prevent the retraction of the latter with the r'uifling blade.

Having thus described my invention I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a. sewing machine rulfler, the combination with a ruff-ling blade and means for operating the same, of a presser-foot provided on its under side with a shoulder, a separator plate terminating at its forward end adjacent to said shoulder, and a holding blade terminating at its forward end at a considerable distance rearward of said shoulder.

2. In a sewing machine ruffler, the combination with a rufiling blade and means for operating the same, of a resser-foot piece formed separate from the frame of the attachment and provided on its under side with a shoulder, a separator plate terminating at its forward end adjacent to said shoulder, and a holding blade terminating at its forward end at a considerable distance rearward of said shoulder.

3. In a sewing machine rufiler, the con1bination with a rutiling blade and means for operating the same, of a presser-foot provided on its under side with a shoulder, a separator plate terminating at its forward end adjacent to said shoulder, and a holding blade terminating at its forward end at a considerable distance rearward of said shoulder, said rufliing and holding blades having at their forward ends pointed intermeshing teeth.

a. In a sewing machineruifler, the combination with a ruftling blade and means for operating the same, of a presser-foot provided on its under side with a shoulder, a separator plate terminating at its forward end adjacent to said shoulder, and a holding blade having a forward rip-turned end terminating a considerable distance rearward of said shoulder, said presser-foot having, rearward of said shoulder, a part adjacent the said forward rip-turned end of said holding blade and cooperating with the latter.

5. In a sewing machine rufller, the combination with a ruflling blade and means for,

operating the same, of a presser-foot provided on its under side wlth a shoulder, a

separator plate terminating at its forward end adjacent to said shoulder, and a holding blade having a forward upturned end terminating a considerable distance rearward of said shoulder, said presser-foot having, rearward of said shoulder, a second shoulder adjacent the said forward up-turned end of said holding blade and cooperating with the latter.

6. In a sewing machine rufier, the combination with a rufiiing blade and means for operating the same, of a separator plate, a support for said plate, and a holding blade interposed between said ruffiing blade and said separator plate, said ruflling and holding blades being provided at their forward ends with pointed, intermeshing teeth.

7. In a sewing machine rutller, the combi nation with a rutliing blade, and means for operating the same, of a separator plate, a holding blade, and a presser-foot piece formed separate from or independent of the frame of the ruliier and provided on its under side with a shoulder adjacent the forward end of said separator plate, said presser foot piece being yieldingly secured to the foot portion of the attachment frame, so as to be self-adjusting, and having, between said shoulder and its end, a portion cooperating with said holding blade to assist the latter in preventing the retraction of the ruffiing strip with said rutlling blade.

8. In a sewing machine rufller, the combination with a ruffling blade and means for operating the same, of a separator-plate, a holding blade having an rip-turned forward end, and a presser-foot piece formed separate from or independent of the frame of the ruffler and provided on its underside with a shoulder adjacent the forward end of said separator plate, said presser-foot piece having, between said shoulder and its end, a portion cooperating with said holding blade to assist the latter in preventing the retraction of the rutfling strip with said rufliing blade.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and ailixed my seal, this 21st day of May, A. D. 1908.

WINSLOVV R. PARSONS. [1 s] Witnesses:

J NO. G. ELLIOTT, M. Gr. Frrzsnvmrons. 

